The Café patrons shifted uneasily in their seats, unsure how to take Spillane’s studiously stilted, amateur night delivery. Some giggled.

The giggling turned to laughter when Spillane started to sing. “I’m Moving On” is probably the most melodic and overtly hostile approach to conveying the message, “bugger off,” you’ll ever hear. If Spillane had written the song about you, you wouldn’t want to still be around when he finished up. He’s a big, intense guy with a loaded imagination ... and he knows how to use it.

Nothing about Spillane’s performance is polished. He doesn’t try to tone down his Cork accent. He has a voice like medium-fine sandpaper. The gritty quality—coupled with his direct and deeply passionate delivery—smooths the rough edges of his songs, especially the songs of love, lies and loss. Spillane plays guitar—a scarred, abused little thing—exceptionally well. That night on the World Café stage, it was his only accompaniment.

So all a listener can do is focus on those potent lyrics. Take these, for instance, from “The Song of Lies” on Spillane’s most recent release, Hey Dreamer:

And her mouth was as red as the fresh fallen snow, the day she told me again how another man's love was as white as the raven, while mine was blacker than blood …

If you don’t know Spillane, searing lyrics like those probably ring a bell. Pauline Scanlan sings Spillane’s song, “When You and I Were True,” on her recent CD, “Hush.” It’s one of the lovelier tracks on that recording. (Scanlan also shows up to sing harmonies on four tracks on Spillane’s most recent release, “Hey Dreamer.”)

Karan Casey first started recording Spillane’s songs when Spillane was still singing in the traditional Irish band Nomos. Many of the tunes were written with the lyricist’s childhood friend, the poet Louis DePaor, a collaboration Spillane has christened The Gaelic Hit Factory. “She (Casey) was courting a guy in the band (Nomos founder Niall Vallely),” Spillane explained over beers at the World Café. “She discovered our songs. She sang the first tunes from the Gaelic Hit Factory.”

Casey isn't the only performer to mine Spillane's rich vein of distinctive lyrics. Add Christy Moore, Cathie Ryan, Sean Keane and Méav to the list, too.

What does Spillane think of all those artists singing his tunes? "It’s the greatest compliment I can receive,” he said. “But I always think I sing them best because I can feel them.”

This month, Spillane is releasing a new CD—not coincidentally, titled The Gaelic Hit Factory—consisting entirely of tunes in Irish, co-written with DePaor. Spillane has wanted to tackle this project for a long time, he said, “but my plan was to get famous in English first.”

Ask him why it’s so important, and you get an answer that starts out straight, and then takes an abrupt left turn. A lot of his answers follow that course. “We are fascinated by Irish folklore and language. It’s got to do with historical reasons,” he explained. “And we’re striking a blow for the Gael!”

Check out Spillane’s Web site for details about the newest CDs. You'll also find plenty of song samples there, and lyrics. With any luck, John Spillane will come by our way again soon, and you can hear his tunes the way they were meant to be heard.